§899Nemo nocens sibi ipse poenas inrogat.
Nurse: No one who is guilty imposes punishment upon himself.
Life has been granted to many, whose error had been guilty, not their right hand; who condemns his own fate?
§902Quicumque fata" iniqua sortitus fuit.
Deianira: Whoever has been allotted an unjust fate.
§903Hic ipse Megaram nempe confixam suis §904stravit sagittis atque natorum indolem §905Lernaea figens tela furibunda manu; §906ter parricida factus ignovit tamen §907sibi. non furori: fonte Cinyphio scelus §908sub axe Libyco tersit et dextram abluit.
Nurse: This very man, surely, laid low Megara, pierced by his own arrows, and the promising offspring of his children, shooting the Lernaean weapons with his raging hand; though thrice made a parricide, yet he forgave himself—not his madness: under the Libyan sky, in the Cinyphian spring, he wiped away the crime and washed his right hand.
§909quo. misera, pergis? cur tuas damnas manus?
Whither, wretched woman, do you hasten? Why do you condemn your own hands?
Deianira: The vanquished Alcides condemns my hands; it pleases me to punish the crime.
§911bSi novi Herculem. §912aderit cruenti forsitan victor mali §913dolorque fractus cedet Alcidae tuo.
Nurse: If I know Hercules, he will perhaps be present as the conqueror of this bloody evil, and the broken pain will yield to your Alcides.
Deianira: The poison of the hydra has eaten away his limbs, as the rumor is; the immense plague has carried off the members of my husband.
Nurse: Do you think that the poison of a slain serpent cannot be conquered by him who bore the living evil?
§918elisit hydram, dente † cum fixo tenens §919media palude victor, effuso obrutus §920artus veneno, sanguis hunc Nessi opprimet, §921qui vicit ipsas horridi Nessi manus?
He crushed the hydra, holding it with his fixed tooth, victor in the middle of the swamp; overwhelmed on his limbs with the poured-out poison, shall the blood of Nessus overwhelm him, who conquered the very hands of the dread Nessus?
§922Frustra tenetur ille qui statuit mori.
Deianira: In vain is he held back who has resolved to die.
He has lived enough, whoever falls with Alcides; therefore, it is my decree to flee the light.
§925Per has aniles ecce te supplex comas §926atque ubera ista paene materna obsecro: §927depone tumidas pectoris laesi minas §928mortisque dirae expelle decretum horridum.
Nurse: Look, by this aged hair and those almost maternal breasts, I suppliant beseech you: lay aside the swollen threats of your wounded heart, and drive away the shuddering decree of a dreadful death.
§929Quicumque misero forte dissuadet mori, §930crudelis ille est: interim poena est mori, §931sed saepe donum; pluribus veniae fuit.
Deianira: Whoever happens to dissuade a wretched person from dying, he is cruel; sometimes to die is a punishment, but often a gift; to many it has been a pardon.
Nurse: Defend at least your right hand, unhappy woman, and let him know that this was a crime of deceit, not of his wife.
Deianira: I shall be defended there: the shades below will acquit the accused, but I am condemned by myself; let Pluto cleanse these hands.
I shall stand, not forgetting, before your banks, O Lethe, and as a sad shade I shall receive my husband.
§938sed tu, nigrantis regna qui torques poli, §939para laborem (scelera quae quisquam ausus est, §940hic vincit error: Iuno non ausa Herculem est §941eripere terris) horridam poenam para.
But you, who rule the realms of the black sky, prepare a labor (this error surpasses whatever crimes anyone has dared; Juno did not dare to snatch Hercules from the earth) prepare a shuddering punishment.
§942Sisyphia cervix cesset et nostros lapis §943impellat umeros; me Tagus fugiat latex §944meamque fallax unda deludat sitim; §945merui manus praebere turbinibus tuis, §946quaecumque regem Thessalum torques rota; §947effodiat avidus hinc et hinc vultur libras; §948vacat una Danais, has ego explebo vices: §949laxate manes, recipe me comitem tibi, §950Phasiaca coniunx: peior haec, peior tuo §951utroque dextra est scelere, seu mater nocens §952seu dira soror' es; adde me comitem tuis, §953Threicia coniunx, sceleribus; natam tuam, §954Althaea mater, recipe, nunc veram tui §955agnosce prolem— quid tamen tantum manus
Let Sisyphus' neck rest, and let the stone press upon my shoulders; let the liquid stream of Tagus flee me, and let the deceitful wave mock my thirst; I have deserved to offer my hands to your whirlings, O wheel, whichever you are that spin the Thessalian king; let a greedy vulture dig out my entrails from this side and that; one place is vacant for the Danaids, I will fill this turn; loosen, O shades, receive me as your companion, O Phasian wife: this right hand is worse, worse than both of your crimes, whether you are a guilty mother or a dread sister; add me as a companion to your crimes, O Thracian wife; receive your daughter, mother Althaea, now recognize your true offspring— yet what so great did your hands take away?
§956vestrae abstulerunt? claudite Elysium mihi §957quaecumque fidae coniuges nemoris sacri §958lucos tenetis; si qua 'respersit manus §959viri cruore nec memor castae facis §960stricto cruenta Belias ferro stetit, §961in me suas agnoscat et laudet manus, §962in hanc abire coniugum turbam libet;
Close Elysium against me, whichever faithful wives hold the groves of the sacred forest; if any daughter of Belus, her hand sprinkled with her husband's blood, unmindful of the chaste torch, stood bloody with drawn sword, let her recognize and praise her own hands in me; it pleases me to depart into this crowd of wives.
§963sed et illa fugiet turba tam diras manus,
Yet even that crowd will flee hands so dread.
O unconquered husband, my mind is innocent, my hand is guilty.
pro nimis mens credula,
Oh, mind too credulous!
§966pro Nesse fallax atque semiferi doli!
Oh, deceitful Nessus and the deceits of the half-beast!
§967auferre cupiens paelici eripui mihi.
Wishing to take you away from a rival, I have snatched you from myself.
§968recede, Titan, tuque quae blanda tenes §969in luce miseros vita: caritura Hercule §970lux vilis ista est.
Withdraw, O Titan, and you, life, who hold the wretched with sweet charm in the light: that light, about to be deprived of Hercules, is cheap.
exigam poenas tibi §971reddamque vitam, fata an extendo mea §972mortemque, coniunx, ad tuas servo manus?
I will exact punishment from you and return my life; or do I prolong my fate, O husband, and preserve my death for your hands?
Does any valor remain, and are your armed hands strong enough to bend the bow that will send weapons?
Or do your arms lie idle, and does the bow not obey you with your weakening hand?
§977animose coniunx, dexteram expecto tuam.
If you can deal death, O spirited husband, I await your right hand.
§978mors differatur: frange ut insontem Lichan.
Let death be delayed: crush me as you did the innocent Lichas.
§979alias in urbes sparge et ignotum tibi §980inmitte in orbem: perde ut Arcadiae nefas §981et quicquid aliud restitit: ab illis tamen, §982coniunx, redisti.
Scatter me into other cities, and cast me into a world unknown to you: destroy me as the monster of Arcadia, and whatever else resisted you—yet from those things, husband, you returned.
§982bParce iam, mater, precor,
Hyllus: Spare now, mother, I pray.